A single return sailing had to be cancelled on the Interislander’s Kaiārahi ferry after an intermittent technical fault was discovered just hours before a scheduled maintenance layby.
Interislander operations general manager Taru Sawhney said Kaiārahi was berthing in Wellington around 2.30am on Saturday morning when the fault was discovered. It did berth safely.
The ferry was on a scheduled maintenance layby between Saturday afternoon and Monday afternoon.
Sawhney said Kaiārahi’s scheduled 3.30am Saturday sailing and return from Picton had to be cancelled while the fault was investigated.
“We did a lot of work carrying out further investigations, repairs and testing over the weekend layby.”
Sawhney said the ferry had to undergo final sea trials and approvals on Monday before it could resume service.
As this was a process that took time and as a precaution, Interislander cancelled Kaiārahi’s next scheduled service from Wellington at 3.30pm on Monday and 9.30pm return from Picton.
“We apologise for this disruption but safety has to be the priority. All freight and passenger bookings on the sailings will be cancelled. Passengers will be moved to alternative sailings where possible or offered a full refund.
“We expect Kaiārahi will return to service, leaving Wellington at 3.30am on Tuesday.”
